Tag Archives: Influenza

Health, Medical, Research, Science

Could a new ‘universal vaccine’ stop all strains of flu virus?

MEDICAL RESEARCH

A NEW universal long-lasting vaccine could prevent the need for yearly flu jabs.

Currently, scientists have to predict every year what the new strain of flu will look like, but by the time the vaccine has been made, the strain of virus may already have mutated and changed.

Recently released figures reveal the vaccine given to ten million over-65s, children and at-risk adults last year offered little protection against the killer H3N2 strain, known as Aussie flu, which put unprecedented pressure on the NHS during the winter months.

Public Health officials have admitted the jab had “no significant effectiveness” in preventing people from being struck down – and was deemed only 15 per cent effective overall.

UK researchers are now working on a “universal” vaccine to protect against a number of strains.

The cells of the flu virus are like spherical cushions with lots of pins sticking out. Flu vaccines currently work by triggering an immune response to antigens – the heads of the pins – on the cell’s surface.

The immune system creates antibodies, which are then primed to attack and block the real flu virus when it comes along: the antibodies recognise the virus by its antigens.

The new vaccine, developed at the University of Oxford, protects the body against flu in a way that makes it more universal.

 

SCIENTISTS have found that while flu strains vary, all flu viruses contain epitopes (parts of the antigen to which antibodies attach), which vary much less than previously thought. Targeting these epitopes through vaccination would protect against all strains of the virus.

The new vaccine is designed to home in on these common epitopes and help the immune system create antibodies to fight them.

So far they’ve identified specific epitopes for two main types of flu – influenza A virus (subtypes H1 and H3) and influenza B. Researchers say a vaccine using this new approach could provide immunity without the need for yearly vaccinations, and could work against many types of flu even if the virus mutates.

Two or three injections would give long-term protection against different strains, they say.

Sunetra Gupta, a professor of theoretical epidemiology who led the research, says: “We believe our methods can be applied to produce vaccines against all subtypes of influenza, thereby providing the opportunity to develop not only a more effective vaccine against endemic influenza, with lower healthcare costs, but also better protection against potential influenza pandemics.

“The same strategy can also be used to produce vaccines for swine and avian influenza, which will have significant economic consequences, and the control of which will reduce the probability of new lineages emerging with pandemic potential.”

Vaccination is the most effective way to protect against the virus and is given annually in the UK to people at risk, including the over-65s, children aged two to nine, pregnant women, and people in long-stay residential care homes.

But the problem with existing vaccines is that the flu virus frequently mutates in two ways.

The first, known as antigenic drift, involves small changes in the genes of influenza viruses as the virus replicates.

These small genetic changes usually produce viruses that are closely related to one another, and share the same antigenic properties, so an immune system exposed to a similar virus will usually recognise it and respond.

But these small changes can accumulate over time and eventually the immune system may not recognise them and respond.

The less common route is antigenic shift – an abrupt, major change in the influenza A virus, and most people have little or no protection against the new virus.

 

TO ENSURE vaccines are available when needed, six months before the flu season, scientists try to predict the new strain. However, as the latest figures show, they don’t always get it right.

Commenting on the research, Professor Wendy Barclay, the Action Medical Research Chair in Virology at Imperial College London, says: “There are lots of different ideas about to make a universal flu vaccine and how universal it would actually be.

“This work from the Oxford group would mean we don’t have to update the flu vaccine yearly, but if a new pandemic came along, chances are this type of vaccine wouldn’t work against that.

“But it would mean we don’t have to chase after the virus as it constantly drifts and we try to keep up.”

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Health, Medical, Research, Science

Inoculation that protects against all strains of flu for 10 years

FLU-v JAB

A SINGLE jab which protects against all strains of flu for up to a decade could be available on the NHS in just two years.

The results of a UK human trial suggest the jab is more effective than existing vaccines which target only a few types of the virus.

Its creators claim it will end the scourge of flu globally, turning it into a mild illness rather than a killer.

The FLU-v jab, which is the work of British company Imutex, is said to fight off every strain, from the yearly winter virus to virulent strains such as swine flu and the recent Aussie flu. It is likely to cost between £20 to £50 per person but will need to be given only every five to ten years.

Current vaccines target proteins on the virus surface, but regions of these proteins constantly change in a bid to fool the immune system.

This means the virus is always one step ahead of the vaccine, which is why it must be remade each year. The new jab has been created to target unchanging regions of the virus proteins by boosting the immune system’s T-cells that recognise and attack foreign invaders.

The trial involved 123 participants aged 18 to 60 being infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus and spending eight days in a room. Eighty per cent were prevented from getting flu after having the jab. The vaccine was also twice as effective as limiting flu-like symptoms, with 60 per cent of those given the jab developing fewer than two symptoms. This suggests that even when people catch the flu virus, the vaccine can reduce the impact of its symptoms.

And a less severe infection for the elderly would slash the likelihood of complications and hospitalisations. After participants received FLU-v, their immune cells were tested against a range of flu strains. In all instances, the cells recognised and killed the virus.

It is hoped the results give the vaccine “breakthrough designation” from the US Food and Drug Administration – fast-tracking it through the approval process and paving the way for it to be available on the NHS within two years.

The new study was part of the collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the world’s largest medical research establishment, the National Institute of Health in Washington, USA. The UK’s most senior influenza expert John Oxford, emeritus professor of virology at Queen Mary University of London, said: “I am enthusiastic about universal vaccines. It is recognised as being a good way forward.

“If one should have an effective universal flu vaccine, people could relax because you could have a dose of it and it would give years of protection against whichever virus is circulating.”

Dr Ed Schmidt, from the Universal Influenza Vaccine Consortium at Groningen University, Holland, said the vaccine could be “a game changer”, adding: “It would lead to a serious reduction in deaths and have a major impact.”

This winter, the annual jab worked in just a quarter of the population in what was deemed as the worst epidemic in seven years.

The NHS spends more than £100million annually on its flu vaccination programme alone.

A universal jab could save the NHS around £27,000 per person over the course of their lifetime from less illness, absences and reduced pressure.

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Medical, Research, Science

An influenza patch that can replace the annual flu jab

MEDICAL SCIENCE

A PATCH could replace the annual flu jab, research suggests.

In future, the patches could be sent out in the post, enabling people to quickly and easily vaccinate themselves without having to queue at the GPs surgery, experts have said.

A trial of the patch by US scientists at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, found it worked as well as a jab and was preferred by patients.

The study, published this week in the Lancet medical journal, also revealed it could be safely stored for a year without a fridge – meaning it could easily be distributed to patients to administer to themselves.

The device, measuring roughly one inch in diameter, contains the same vaccine as is given in conventional flu injections.

But it can be self-administered by simply placing on the wrist for 20 minutes and then removed.

The patch contains 100 tiny ‘microneedles’ which pierce the top layer of the skin.

The needles dissolve while they are in the skin, meaning there is no danger of piercing a second patient and passing on bloodborne diseases – a major safety fear when people inject themselves without professional medical supervision.

Experts said the device could significantly improve uptake of the flu vaccination.

The disease kills 5,000 people in England each year, and the vast majority of victims are elderly or suffer from existing respiratory conditions.

For this reason, the NHS encourages anyone over the age of 65 to have an annual influenza jab.

Younger people who are considered at risk – including all pregnant women, young children aged two, three and four, and anyone with asthma or other conditions – are also offered the vaccine.

However, uptake of the jab is poor, and falling. Only 71 per cent of over-65s had the vaccine in 2015/16, along with just 42 per cent of pregnant women, roughly a third of young children, and less than half of people with existing health conditions.

Experts said alternative ways of delivering the vaccine might improve take-up – particularly among those afraid of needles or too busy to go to the GP.

Researchers tested the patch on 100 people who had chosen not to receive the flu vaccine.

They found that after six months, no serious side effects linked to the vaccine were reported and there were no cases of influenza.

As well as this, participants reported high ‘acceptability’ scores of between 4.5 and 4.8 out of five, with some 70 per cent saying they preferred it to the injection.

Study leader Dr Nadine Rouphael said: ‘Despite the recommendations for adults and children to receive a flu shot, many people remain unvaccinated. The patch could be safely applied by participants themselves, meaning we could envisage vaccination at home, in the work place, or even via mail distribution.

‘These advantages could reduce the cost of the flu vaccine and potentially increase coverage.

‘Our findings now need confirming in larger trials.’

Experts in Britain welcomed the study, saying the patches could be particularly useful for children.

Dr Maria Zambon, director of reference microbiology at Public Health England, said: ‘This is a good early research and we await more tests on these patches to see their effectiveness.

‘Microneedle patches have the potential to be used for vaccination programmes and could help people scared of needles.’

Appendage:

Flu Patch (2)

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